Conventional parking brakes or more precisely parking brake systems, such as disk, drum or drum-in-hat brake systems, are well known from the prior art. In these cases, by means of a brake lever provided in the vehicle, an actuating force is manually produced which is transmitted to the parking brake via a system of control cables. Depending on the actuating force applied to the parking brake, there is produced by the parking brake a brake force which is transmitted to the brake mechanism unit of the parking brake. The brake force produced is therefore proportional to the actuating force transmitted by the cable system. When a predefined actuating force is applied, a predefined braking force is directly applied to the brake mechanism unit.
Conventional, purely mechanically controlled parking brakes are being increasingly replaced by electronically controlled parking brakes or more precisely parking brake systems in which the generation of the actuating force required for actuating the brake mechanism is controlled via an electronic control system. The parking brake is applied or released by an actuator depending on the presence of an electronic actuating signal. To generate a mechanical actuating force acting on the brake mechanism, an electric motor gear unit, for example, is provided which is connected, for example, to the brake mechanism via a control cable system and can be controlled via the control system. The electronic actuating signal for actuating the electronic parking brake is here generated, for example, by an electronic control provided in the vehicle, in particular pushbutton, rocker or switch module. Alternatively, the electronic parking brake can be controlled via an actuating signal generated by a control routine.
Motor vehicle parking brakes electronically or motor operated by means of an actuator have significant advantages over hitherto usual solutions in which the parking brake was cable-operated via a lever on the motor vehicle's transmission tunnel. Compared to a purely mechanical solution, they have the advantage that no handbrake lever is required on the center console, that no long control cables need to be installed which involve design complexity and corresponding maintenance. In addition, with the electronic parking brake, the space that would otherwise be required for the handbrake lever is available for other purposes. Electronically operated parking brakes also have the advantage that they have the same effect on the brake irrespective of the force exerted by the operator.
In the case of electronic parking brakes as well as other electronic brakes, particular attention must be paid to ensuring that the brake is not applied unintentionally while traveling.